Warner Bros can sell merchandise, but not experiences, according to the estate.

An online Lord of the Rings slot machine game has riled up the lawyerly Balrogs of the Tolkien estate, according to the Hollywood Reporter. On Monday, the estate filed suit against Warner Bros. over the slots game, claiming that the company only has rights to create tangible merchandise and that digital products are beyond the scope of their contract.

According to Tolkien’s estate, its agreement with Warner Bros. covers “articles of tangible personal property”: costume hobbit feet and ears, authentic replicas of The One Ring or Evenstar necklace, life-sized cardboard cutouts of the movie series’ stars, and the like. But the estate claims that Warner Bros. has pursued merchandising in digital realms with “increasing boldness” where it is not technically authorized to do so.

The online slot machines are particular offenders, but the suit also names a number of other non-tangibles: ringtones, online games and downloadable apps, as well as hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, and housing developments, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Merchandise seems all right by the estate, but anything that might claim a LoTR-style experience goes too far.

In the court documents, Tolkien’s estate argues that these merchandising ventures not only boldly exceed the production company’s rights, but that the intangible content has “outraged Tolkien's devoted fan base, causing irreparable harm to Tolkien's legacy and reputation and the valuable goodwill generated by his works.”

The estate claims that extensive settlement talks have proved fruitless, and it is asking for $80 million in damages.

Promoted Comments

The other day I went to Denny's and their specials now are all Hobbit-related. Every time you order one of the specials you get collectible Hobbit movie cards. Does this also qualify as infringing crap by the Tolkien estate?

Only if you fail to come back for 2nd breakfast and Elevensies.

17145 posts | registered Aug 19, 2003

Casey Johnston
Casey Johnston is the former Culture Editor at Ars Technica, and now does the occasional freelance story. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Applied Physics. Twitter@caseyjohnston

The other day I went to Denny's and their specials now are all Hobbit-related. Every time you order one of the specials you get collectible Hobbit movie cards. Does this also qualify as infringing crap by the Tolkien estate?

The other day I went to Denny's and their specials now are all Hobbit-related. Every time you order one of the specials you get collectible Hobbit movie cards. Does this also qualify as infringing crap by the Tolkien estate?

How unsurprising. If Tolkien's heirs could have a say in all the crap based on the Lord of the Ring that was released since the movies, they would merely deny them all. If they had hindsight of what it would become when Tolkien sold the book's rights to make movies, they would have refused.They're reduced to try to deny the most egregious form of exploitation of the licence, but I daresay the books have sold and generated enough revenue for them not to care about money.

The other day I went to Denny's and their specials now are all Hobbit-related. Every time you order one of the specials you get collectible Hobbit movie cards. Does this also qualify as infringing crap by the Tolkien estate?

The problem here doesn't seem to be that it is a slot machine (WMS has licensed LOTR in physical slots for a while) but rather that the online-slot is infringing.

I wonder how the online game reduces the goodwill of the book more than the physical machines?

This may be the issue: the estate licensed WMS to make slots not Warner and having Warner do an online version of a slot machine may make WMS come after the estate for some sort of breach of contract. It's not so much that it reduces goodwill as it is that they don't want to have to give back any of the licensing money from any party.

Rent seeking at its finest. If this istn't another reason to limit copyright, I don't know what is. The money that they extract will help neither the creator nor the society in creating furher works of art.

1) Who cares if one corporation sues another about breach of contract? 2) Things published in 1937 really need to start entering public domain soon. Length of copyright has been pushed well beyond the point where it's beneficial to the public. Simply put, the benefit the public receives is dwarfed by the huge expenditure of money to support lengthy copyright. I can no longer be bothered to care if anyone violates the Tolkein copyrights in any manner what so ever. Let Warner Brothers do what ever they like in this matter. I can't expect them to respect copyright on ancient works if I don't.

The other day I went to Denny's and their specials now are all Hobbit-related. Every time you order one of the specials you get collectible Hobbit movie cards. Does this also qualify as infringing crap by the Tolkien estate?

The problem here doesn't seem to be that it is a slot machine (WMS has licensed LOTR in physical slots for a while) but rather that the online-slot is infringing.

I wonder how the online game reduces the goodwill of the book more than the physical machines?

This may be the issue: the estate licensed WMS to make slots not Warner and having Warner do an online version of a slot machine may make WMS come after the estate for some sort of breach of contract. It's not so much that it reduces goodwill as it is that they don't want to have to give back any of the licensing money from any party.

If I am reading the above link correctly, even the physical WMS slot machines seem to be licensed through New Line Productions, Inc (AKA now Warner Bros.) through their license from The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises, which is a defendant in this suit, not the plaintiff.

The other day I went to Denny's and their specials now are all Hobbit-related. Every time you order one of the specials you get collectible Hobbit movie cards. Does this also qualify as infringing crap by the Tolkien estate?

Maybe they sought and received licensing under "specific" conditions. I sincerely doubt a large corporation would risk a lawsuit doing something stupid.

Tolkien is dead. The person who created the world has long since gone. He didn't approve the movie, he didn't approve the games, the hobbit feet, the whole claptrap. Why is his family still profiting from something that was written 60 years ago?

This is yet another argument against ridiculous copyright laws that have allowed a family to sell off a legacy and the highest bidder to make a mint from a dead man's work.

1) LotR should by all rights be Public Domain. It's a symbol of the failure of copyright to act as incentive to create.2) If Warner breached a contract I have little sympathy for them - they'd do the same to defend any copyright (or other right) of theirs no matter how ridiculous it was.

(3. If Dennys are giving out physical cards I imagine they are good to go as long as Warner is ok with it - which I'm pretty damn sure they are, free PR - since it seems Warner has rights to all things physical.)

Everybody involved in the creation of Tolkein's LOTR universe (with the possible exception of Christopher, and excluding the many many derivative works) has been dead for as long as I've been alive, yet it will be held under lock and key for longer than the expected lifetimes of my grandchildren.

The vast vast majority of revenue generated by copyrights simply enriches corporations and holding companies. If after one work, the author's entire legacy is set for life forever, there is no incentive to continue creating, for them or their offspring.